|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
|
Team History Sprye Bane emerged, like most teams, from a small group of friends sharing similar interests and hobbies. In the beginning the group banded together in 1996 as a gaming club playing games such as: AD&D, Magic and Warhammer 40k. In the spring of 2004, a chance meeting between Grelvire and Snorri sparked a conversation about paintball leading to a woodsball game that led to the teams inevitable participation in the "Battle of the Bulge", Outdoor Adventures' first scenario game. Sprye Bane's members have been present at numerous scenario games in many states, including DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA and WV. During the summer of 2005, Sprye Bane adopted the kilt as the teams official uniform during a particularly sweltering day of paintball. In 2006, Team Wardogs merged into the Sprye Bane as Squad Wardog, an independent squad within the team, while the original members of Sprye Bane formed the Black Sheep Squad. The teams philosophy has made Sprye Bane into an infamous group with members known to do things out of the ordinary and unexpected (i.e.: wearing their signature kilts during play and charging forward when most would retreat).  Sprye Bane's Area of Operation Team Philosophy Sprye Bane's mission in is not only to win but to have fun, promote teamwork and pass our collective knowledge and experience onto whom ever wishes to learn from us. As a team, encompassing many ages and abilities, we feel that having a safe and fun experience is worth more than winning the game. Though, it is thrilling to get the 'V' we always go home winners after a hard fought battle and a day spent in the company of our friends. Black Sheep Squad Sprye Bane's Black Sheep Squad is comprised of almost all of the original members and founders of the team. The "Black Sheep" primarily shoot markers produced by Airgun Designs and are more notably known for their wearing of kilts during play. Members of this squad are the more veteran players of the team and have the reputation for their willingness to go the distance when it comes to completing an objective no matter the odds and their lack of apparent sanity with their humorous antics on and off the field. If a group is needed for a suicide mission, inspire the walk-ons or just cause some chaos and disorder within the game, then the Black Sheep Squad is happy to oblige. Squad Wardog Sprye Bane's Squad Wardog originated as Team Wardogs. In 2006, after several months of discussions the decision was made that the fledgling team would merge into the kilted folds of Sprye Bane as a independent squad. Comprised of young-bloods and a few veteran players the Wardogs have proved themselves to be a valued asset to the team.
Woodsball™ Manifesto We are Woodsball™ players. We are the core of paintball. Over 90% of the players play paintball in the woods, and yet 90% of all in-paintball media coverage ignores us. We play not for prizes or money or fame, but for the passion of the game. We play because the challenge is there; every weekend, all around the world. We just need to show up and accept it. We are not the pretty-boys of speedball. We are the anti-heroes of the mainstream. You won't see us on posters or in videos sliding into bunkers with names like "cans" or "snakes", and that's fine by us. The real game isn't spit shined, groomed and polished or made for TV. It's down and dirty, in the literal trenches. Our fields are not well maintained lawns; it's terrain that both teams overcome. We don't complain about sand or dirt or uneven fields, its part of the world we play in. Scratches and dings in our equipment are displayed with pride, and we can tell you where they happened, and how deep in the crud we were when we got it. We are the roots of the game that have been abandoned by much of the mainstream industry. We don't throw aside where we've come from to make the game more palatable for an audience. If nobody sees what we do, it does not make the effort or result worth less. We drive through back roads to fields that nobody knows about but ourselves. We know we're there when we lose our favorite radio station and the cell phones won't work anymore. We play under the media radar with no reward other than bragging rights because we want to play. There are no prizes, no million dollar checks, but that makes neither our tenacity to win no less fierce nor our games less meaningful for us. Our chosen uniform is camouflage, not because we want to be militaristic but because it works. We use our clothing as a part of our game, something that escapes many of the "firefight specialists" that play only arena games. The paint gun is only one tool of a well rounded player, not the only tool. We know this; as we use all the skills and tools we have every weekend. Based only on our clothing, our gear, and our chosen locations of play, we are looked at as inferior players. We are told we would never stand a chance in a "real game" of paintball. We understand your arena game; yet you refuse to understand our woods game? We are not throwbacks to a long dead game. Yes, we are living history, but we have evolved. We honor our roots, but we do not abandon them to follow the next "promise" in paintball. Long after the "flavor of the month" arena game has worn out, we will be playing in the woods. To know the past is to control our future, and we embrace both. We are told that we should abandon the woods, for the better good of "the future of the game". Our presence threatens those who never have, and probably never will, understand what the origins of paintball are. They think we will scare away the media by looking like "militia members". Not that fist fights and blatant cheating will attract any better media attention in their games. Not that terms like "Bounce Engineered" or "Ramping Technology" mean anything to the true roots of what paintball started as; what paintball should be. Are the arena players scared of us or ashamed because we remind them what they should be? We are woodsball™ players. Any given weekend we'll be playing our game with a grasp on the past and an eye on our future. Players that don't understand will come and go, we know this. They can play under the bright lights in front of audiences and pretend to be rock stars all they want. We'll be in the woods years after you retire, playing the game of paintball the way it always had been played; with honor, with integrity, and with friends. All 90% of us. © 2005 Panther Free Press |
|
|
|